Two-star hotel owners who were stripped of their bar licences by the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government can now have their expired permits restored if they get three-star classification for their establishments.
The government has relegated the authority to restore such old licences to Deputy Excise Commissioners. Applications for renewal can be submitted online with the hotel’s star classification.
Hotels which lost their beer and wine parlour licences in the aftermath of the Supreme Court order banning the sale of liquor within 500 m radius of National and State Highways can shift their permits to any buildings that meet the one-star classification criteria set by the Tourism Department. However, such establishments will have to absorb the employees they had laid off due to closure.
The government is also weighing a demand by the Tourism Department to reduce the fee of temporary liquor permits, currently ₹50,000, and to relegate the authority to issue such “one-day” licences from the Excise Commissionerate to Deputy Excise Commissioners in districts.
The government has also allowed bar hotels to serve liquor in their banquet halls “without serving food” for an annual fee of ₹50,000.
It has amended Foreign Liquor Rules to suit the new policy, which is aimed at transforming the State into a magnet for international conferences and meetings.
The government has set 11 p.m. as the closing time for on-premise alcohol sales in hotels, beer and wine parlours and private members’ clubs. The amended rules stipulate that the establishments can open only at 11 a.m., except in tourist centres where they can start service at 10 a.m.
Excise officials claimed that closing bars early at 10 p.m. had prompted binge drinking, “distress” purchase of alcohol and illegal hoarding.
The amendments are also aimed at generating employment, replenishing the State’s depleted coffers, and checking bootleg liquor.
